House chairman says no 'Stand Your Ground' changes advancing on his watch

TALLAHASSEE -- The House lawmaker overseeing criminal justice made it clear on the eve of a hearing into Florida's 'stand your ground' law that he doesn't support any changes.

House Democrats held a press conference Wednesday to complain they weren't interested in a "photo op" -- a reference to a scheduled five-hour hearing Thursday on a Democrat-sponsored bll to repeal the law in the wake of the Tayvon Martinshooting.

"There must be major changes and fixes to that law," House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, told reporters.

"We're not looking for photo ops."

But House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, listened in on the press conference and told reporters afterward that Thurston sounded frustrated he couldn't get support from his caucus behind one bill.

The committee is slated to hear HB 4003, by Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, which would repeal the controversial "shoot-first" law. Thurston predicted the panel was "probably not going to do one damn thing."

The committee is also slated to hear a bill, HB 89, which would allow people to fire "warning shots" without constituting the "use of deadly force" under the law -- meaning someone could fire a warning shot without someone else having legal justification to kill them.

Meanwhile, Senate lawmakers are advancing more modest changes to the law in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial and a summer of protests after his acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

"The House Democratic Caucus is taking on the personality of Charlie Crist more and more. First they wanted a repeal of Stand Your Ground law. Now they apparently want changes," Gaetz said.

"... That's not surprising because most Floridians don't want to see the Stand Your Ground law repealed."

The expected defeat of the repeal bill in Gaetz's committee Thursday was a foregone conclusion. But the lawmaker also sounded unimpressed with the bipartisan Senate compromise that has started moving through committees.

It incorporates recommendations that came out of a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Scott last year following Trayvon's shooting.

The black 17-year-old was followed through a Sanford gated community by Zimmerman, a neighborhood-watch volunteer. The two confronted one another, with fatal results.

Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in July.

Though he did not claim "stand your ground" as a defense at trial, his earlier assertion of the law caused massive protests and demonstrations, and the verdict prompted a sit-in at the Capitol.

The bill would require sheriffs and city police departments to set guidelines for neighborhood-watch programs such as Zimmerman's and to restrict members to observing and reporting suspected crimes.

The bill would prohibit people who are the "aggressors" in confrontations from then claiming "stand your ground" immunity.

And it would specify that law enforcement must conduct a full investigation in shootings even if the law is claimed as a defense -- a change spurred by the Sanford Police Department's claim that it couldn't do so in the Zimmerman case.

One of the Senate bill's more controversial provisions would allow lawsuits against people acting in self-defense if they negligently injure or kill an innocent bystander.

But Gaetz called that provision "a solution in search of a problem."

The House sponsor of that bill, Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, "is unable to explain what it is that the [Senate] language does that keeps people safe," Gaetz said.